The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

Gary and Julia froze as they took in Casper's tiny apartment. They never

expected their son, whom they had spoiled with the finer things in life, to go from living in a fancy house to such a shabby unit.

Julia's face darkened as she snapped, "Why didn't you rent a bigger place?"

"Because I don't have the money," Casper answered frankly. "Don't stand on ceremony. Sit and make yourselves at home."

Gary was thunderous. "What do you mean you don't have the money? You had plenty in your savings when you moved out, didn't you? Did Jessica blow through all of it?"

"Why are you bringing Jessica into this again?" Casper couldn't help feeling as if his parents were being deliberately unreasonable. "Did you forget that you didn't pay me when I was working at the company? You didn't even give me an allowance! Why would I have any money at all?"

Gary fell silent. Julia interjected, "Then who gave you the money for Jessica's jewelry?"

Casper replied without hesitation, "I used the money I made from the projects I worked on during college. Didn't I tell you that I earned every penny I spent on Jessica while we were married?

"When you kicked me out of the company and put a hiring ban on me, Jessica had to sell jewelry to help me make ends meet. And because I was blacklisted, it took me a lot of time and effort to get a new job."

Unfortunately, for someone like Casper, who had little to no standing since being blacklisted, he was almost always picked on at work. It was especially true given how his parents had the money and influence to make sure he suffered.

When Gary and Julia launched a smear campaign against Jessica and called her a gold-digger with loose spending habits, she didn't say anything to defend herself.

Casper continued, "After that, Jessica told me our family was never actually bankrupt and that you'd made the whole thing up to trick me. She even declared that she'd divorce me if I chose to return home.

"I chose what you wanted for me and ended up losing my wife. And yet, you got to continue being a happy family."noveldrama

Bitterness welted up in him as he recalled his foolishness. "But even after all I'd done, you still refused to pay me barely had ten thousand dollars in my savings when I moved to this city to patch things upwith Jessica.

"I had to figure out how to pay my rent and get a job. Did you seriously expect me

to have enough money to rent someplace better than this?"

Tears rolled down Julia's cheeks, and her heart broke for the hardship her son had gone through. She blamed Gary for this and turned to snap at him, "This is all your fault! Our son wouldn't be living like this if you hadn't been so convinced that Jessica was bad news!"

Gary was beside himself with guilt. "I didn't know Jessica well enough to assume any better. Besides, when you and Jessica first started dating, Ruby told me Jessica had stolen you from her and that she was after your money.

"I believed Ruby and thought Jessica was only dating you because of money. I was convinced that if I took away your finances, she'd dump you right away..."

If only Gary had known Ruby was lying from the get-go, then none of this would have happened. He never thought that a simple lie could be so damaging, and there was no helping the guilt he felt.

"Ruby again?" Casper had never liked Ruby to begin with. But after hearing Gary out, he decided to let this slide. It wasn't as if Jessica wanted him anymore, and hating Ruby wouldn't change things.

He was better off blaming himself for not being strong enough to fight for Jessica.

If he had, maybe things would have turned out differently for them.

He said tiredly, "Can we stop talking about Ruby? It's getting late. You guys can take the bed; I'll sleep on the couch."

"Nonsense," Julia said as she quickly pulled Casper aside. "Your father and I will stay in a hotel tonight."

Gary then told her, "Wire some money into Casper's account, will you?"